Shannon is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

I took most of the month of June off from studying. It was much needed and I am ready to get this beast over with!

I am in the middle of studying for Regulation and will sit in a few weeks. This is definitely a difficult time of year to study. But it seems in our field of work there is never a “good” time to study.

By the time busy season is over, you’re working on 6/30 deadlines, then its 9/15 deadlines, 10/15 deadlines and then it’s time to start planning for the next year’s busy season! On top of that, life still happens while studying for the CPA exam.

Finding a work/life balance is hard enough, but finding a work/life/study balance almost seems near impossible. That’s why I do feel like it is very important to map out your entire daily study schedule from Day 1 of studying to Exam date. Is it tedious? Yes, but we are all mindful, pay-attention-to-detail accountants!

By mapping out each day, you can always tell if you’re right on schedule, behind schedule, or if you need to plan ahead, because again, life still happens when studying for the CPA exam. I always try to remember (and picture myself sitting beside a pool rather than my study materials) that in a year from now, I will be thankful that I worked so hard now to pass this exam!

Good luck to everyone else studying!